Category Archives: Climate change

The monsoon rain that hit Scotland in recent days should be a stark reminder that we need to take responsibility for climate change. As today's Scotsman editorial elegantly puts it; “It’s time we stopped pillaging the earth’s finite resources to create short-term gain for the few at the expense of the many.” The Met Office …

This is a crucial year for the planet as world leaders meet in Paris in December to thrash out a new international agreement on climate change. As Lord Stern, and others, warned last month, pledges made to date in advance of the UN talks will not be enough to keep global warming rises below the …

In the most comprehensive report on climate change the UN IPCC has said that the impacts of global warming are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible”. Dr Saleemul Huq, a convening lead author said: “Before this we thought we knew this was happening, but now we have overwhelming evidence that it is happening and …

Getting the finance out of fossil fuels is an important element in tackling climate change. We are still on a trajectory to overheat the planet and fossil fuel emissions are the primary cause. I was speaking at a meeting tonight organised by Friends of the Earth Scotland on this issue in Edinburgh. The irony is …

The Committee on Climate Change has published its 2013 progress report on how well Scotland is doing on reducing emissions. The committee found that the annual target was missed by 2% last year, largely due to the exceptionally cold winter. Its letter to the Scottish Government states: “On underling progress reducing emissions, our assessment is …

The Scottish Government has published the second draft Report on Proposals and Policies (RPP2). The report details climate change strategies to meet its ambitious climate change targets up to 2027. These include £1.14 billion over the next three years on measures to address climate change. The Scottish Government claims they are more than halfway to meeting the 2020 …

The renewable energy industry claims Scotland is producing enough low carbon electricity to offset emissions from Longannet power station in Fife. The latest figures show wind and hydro developments have displaced 8.36 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. That is the equivalent of taking some 3.5 million cars off the roads or turning off the country’s biggest coal-fired power …